


My Muse

by jongnugget



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, ChanBaek and XiuChen if you squint, Comedy, Demigods, Fluff, M/M, Romance, shitty puns and bad jokes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 12:27:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14213148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jongnugget/pseuds/jongnugget
Summary: In which Kyungsoo just wants to get used to life as a demigod, but a certain somebody keeps distracting him.





	My Muse

 

“Let me guess,” the redhead jumped off the tree’s branch and his lips slowly stretched into a wide grin, as he approached them. “Brooding. Scary eyes. Looks like he’ll hit you. Ten bucks says Ares.”   

“Nice try,” the boy walking in front of him grumbled.

“What, not Ares?” the redhead seemed genuinely surprised, as he approached them and looked at him like he was a piece exhibited in a museum. It truly made him feel uncomfortable. “Who then?”

The boy who had found him stopped in his place and turned around to give him a look. An unreadable one, before he glanced back at the redhead.

“He had the helm of darkness circling over his head like a halo when we found him. Which is funny, cause there was a Fury after his ass,” he shrugged. “Guess she didn’t get the memo from her boss.”

Kyungsoo bit on his lower lip as his eyes moved from Suho, the boy who had saved him, towards the redhead whose grin had disappeared and whose eyebrows were gradually rising higher and higher up his forehead. He gave him yet another once-over that made him feel incredibly self-conscious.

“Huh. Would have been my second guess.”

“Right.” Suho said, jugging his chin at the redhead. “I have to bring him to Chiron.” 

The redhead nodded thoughtfully, before perching himself back on the tree again.

“You most certainly have to. What’s your name?”

His eyes shot up and his breathing was pretty heavy when he realized the redhead was actually talking to him.

“Kyungsoo.”

“Well, Kyungsoo,” The redhead grinned again and there was something absolutely radiant about his smile. “Welcome to Camp Half Blood.”

* * *

Too much.

If Kyungsoo had to describe what he thought and how he felt by the end of the day, that would be the only thing he’d be able to say. It was too much.

In the span of only a few hours, he had been attacked by a woman, who had proceeded to turn into an evolved, deadly bat with claws. He had watched a boy emerge with a large sword (it was the 21st century, come on) and fight said bat. He had been hauled up by a half-goat, half-human and respectively had earned himself a string of offended curses and dirty glares when he’d asked _what_ he was. A satyr, he had learned, was the correct term.

He had been told that what he learned in his foreign literature class about Greek Mythology was actually all true, and that boy with the sword was claiming that his mother was the Goddess of Wisdom, that he too had a Greek god as a parent, and that he had to throw his phone away. Immediately.

Kyungsoo had been still too stunned from witnessing the tiny middle aged woman suddenly growing wings and ugly fangs to realize that Wisdom sword boy and half-goat-man were pulling him towards a car and then driving way over the speed limit.

His misadventures didn’t end there, though. Wisdom boy – _Suho_ – had spent the drive staring out the windows every now and then, while explaining to Kyungsoo everything about their supposed parents.

Kyungsoo had started growing concerned, that he was being kidnapped. That those two were simply bonkers. However, every time he looked towards the driver’s seat and saw the hairy goat legs of the man driving, and every time he tried to look for an explanation, that he didn’t really find, he would sigh out, knit his eyebrows and listen to what Suho had to tell him.

Just when he’d thought that he was ready for everything by the time they reached this camp where they’d keep him safe, according to Suho, a man with a horse’s body from the waist down had come greeting him and Kyungsoo completely gave up on trying to keep up.

What he was being told sounded like a speech that had already been spoken hundreds of times, as the centaur walked him throughout the place. An arena, an amphitheater, strawberry fields and a forest, stables, a lake, and finally – cabins.

A demigod. According to those people – creatures – he was a demigod.

According to them, his dad was the God of the Underworld.

According to them, his dad was Hades.

And according to them, the tall, lanky boy he’d met in the dark cabin, the boy who’d introduced himself as Sehun, was his brother.

* * *

Kyungsoo hated being the center of attention, yet it seemed like every pair of eyes in the pavilion was trained on him.

Sehun was relatively quiet, and he had spent the majority of the evening just staring at Kyungsoo dubiously, before eventually filling him in on most rules they had in the camp.

Sehun was also quiet now. They were the only two kids sitting at the table of Hades, and Kyungsoo really wished the taller boy would say something – anything, really – to distract him from the fact that everyone was whispering about him behind his back.

“So, um-“ Kyungsoo cleared his throat awkwardly, successfully attracting Sehun’s attention. “Chiron said I should tag along with you to your classes. What are you-…what are we doing today?”

“Sword fighting, forgery, and then we’re on duty with the house of Apollo at the strawberry fields.”

“Oh.” Was all Kyungsoo stupidly replied, as he nodded and returned his gaze down to his plate.

They were silent, but Kyungsoo could feel one more glance joining the rest of the campers in staring at him. He looked up and caught Sehun’s eyes.

The taller boy smirked.

“It’s all very confusing, isn’t it?” there was a hint of compassion in his voice and Kyungsoo breathed out, before nodding once. Maybe that smirk wasn’t actually a smirk. Maybe it was a smile. “You’ll get used to it quickly. We all do.”

“I don’t know,” Kyungsoo muttered. “Gods. Half-goats-“

“Satyrs.” Sehun corrected and Kyungsoo threw him a look. The other one shrugged, before stuffing a piece of carrot in his mouth.

“Gods, _satyrs_ , centaurs. I’m pretty sure I saw a horse with wings when I woke up this morning and there is a guy with eyes on his arms over there. I don’t know about you, but fifteen hours ago I thought the weirdest thing in the world was that ridiculous dance game at the arcade.”

“Well, fifteen hours ago I didn’t think I’d have a demigod brother anytime soon, but here we both are with new things to get used to.” Sehun tapped his fingers on the table, before standing up. “Come on, let me show you around.”

“Chiron already showed me around yesterday.”

“Not the bullshit newcomer version,” Sehun rolled his eyes. “Come on, I’m your brother. Trust me.”

Kyungsoo didn’t know why, but that statement didn’t in any way ease the doubt within.

Sehun, however, was waiting for him with raised eyebrows, and Kyungsoo could only sigh out and follow after him.

* * *

“And we meet again…”

Kyungsoo looked up when he heard the vaguely familiar voice and there he was – that redhead from last night. He was grinning again, and he was leaning on a shovel, looking at Kyungsoo with very apparent interest in his eyes.

He sprawled a hand out.

“Didn’t get the chance to introduce myself yesterday. I’m Baekhyun.” He shook Kyungsoo’s hand and his grin only grew wider. As an afterthought, he added. “Apollo.”

Apollo….Apollo. Kyungsoo raked his brain for that exact moment in class when they had learned about this. Apollo. Archery and poetry and music. God of the Sun, wasn’t it?

That would explain that boy’s bright smile.

“Um…Kyungsoo. Hades, I suppose.”

“Yeah, I know. How cool is that?” Baekhyun excitedly nodded and Kyungsoo’s eyebrows only knitted together in confusion.

“Cool?”

“Yeah. God of the Underworld, one of the Big Three. All that underground stuff, death and like, diamonds. That’s freaking awesome.”

Baekhyun and him had vastly different definitions of awesome, but Kyungsoo decided not to express his utter distress. Instead, he nodded dumbly once.

“I-uh…Apollo. That’s really cool too. All that-…sun.”

“Dad’s pretty cool, yeah,” Baekhyun scratched the back of his head, before grinning. “Thank gods I didn’t inherit his shitty poetry skills, though. God of poetry, right. I feel like he just claimed that title when they were giving titles away up there on Olympus, cause he liked the sound of it.”

“Careful, now.” Kyungsoo snapped his head to the side, where a new boy joined them. He had a dimple on his face, and a kind look on his face, and that same bright twinkle in his eyes as Baekhyun. “If dad hears you he won’t be all that pleased.”

“If dad hears me, then maybe he should work on his poetry some more instead of making me listen to it whenever he visits.”

The boy with the black hair just rolled his eyes and patted Baekhyun’s hair affectionately, before turning to Kyungsoo.

“I’m Lay. Nice to meet you.”

“Kyungsoo.” He nodded in his direction and the dimpled boy smiled at him.

“So how’s your first day going?”

Talking to Lay was nice. He was calm, unlike his hyperactive brother Baekhyun, and he was kind.

He would put in some valuable information about the different classes here and there, while plucking away strawberries. He was actually helpful.

“Why don’t you join us after this?”

“Um-…” Kyungsoo turned his head around to look at Sehun. Sehun, who had probably eaten more strawberries than he had gathered.

“What are you doing?” the taller boy asked lazily, and it was Baekhyun who dramatically raised his hand up to the clear skies.

“Pegasus riding lessons.”

“Oh…” Kyungsoo mused. That sounded like fun.

Sehun seemed to disagree.

“Do you _want_ us to die?”

“Your dad’s Hades. You _can’t_ die.”

Kyungsoo’s eyebrows shot up as he looked at Sehun again. The boy didn’t seem all that amused by what Baekhyun was blurting out. He stared at Kyungsoo and shook his head.

“Don’t listen to him. We can die.”

“Well, that’s comforting.”

“Baekhyun the last time I got _near_ a Pegasus, I almost lost my fucking arm.” Sehun’s dark eyes targeted Kyungsoo yet again. “They’re not really fond of Hades’ kids, let’s just put it that way.”

Before Kyungsoo could question why, before he could even react in any way to all of that, Lay laughed cheerfully – a soft, calm sound that felt almost healing.

“We can always skip that and just take an archery lesson instead, no?”

Kyungsoo was pretty sure he heard Sehun mumbling something about that being much worse, before he shoved another strawberry in his mouth and threw the Apollo kids a look.

* * *

“Oh, you’re the new Hades kid, aren’t you?”

Kyungsoo almost sighed in exasperation.

Is that what everyone around knew him as? The new Hades kid?

The guy who naturally plopped himself down on the ground next to them was tall – even taller than Sehun – and with a bright, wide grin. Maybe he was also a child of Apollo, with that obnoxiously large smile.

“I heard a Fury was coming after you. That’s really kind of ridiculous.”

In Kyungsoo’s humble opinion there was nothing ridiculous about being chased by a bat-lady with glowing eyes and claws sharper than anything he’d seen in his life before.

Absolutely nothing ridiculous in those claws leaving an ugly mark on his forearm – a mark that had miraculously disappeared after Suho gave him some weird drink that tasted like the warmest hug. Nectar, he called it. Kyungsoo didn’t care about its name, he just wanted to drink more of it, but before he could Suho had snatched the thermos away and warned him to not overdo it.

The tall guy that had plopped himself next to him had greeted Sehun – the way people greeted each other when they were close – and Sehun had just hummed and then proceeded to ignore him. And he was still very much grinning at Kyungsoo, who looked at him and gave up with a sigh.

“Why is it ridiculous?”

“Well, the Furies-…I mean, they uh-…they live in the Underworld. They work for Hades.”

“ _Great_.” Kyungsoo heard himself scoffing before he could even think about what he was saying. “So my father is trying to kill me?”

“No no no, not at all.” Tall guy hurried to say, a twitch of his eyebrows. “I mean, he _claimed_ you. Monsters don’t always listen to commands, that’s all. If anything, that Fury probably got into some trouble down there.”

Kyungsoo doubted that.

He’d never met his father before. Hell, from the way his life had unfolded, it’s like he didn’t even have a father. He’d never been mentioned, never been talked about.

He supposed he had been better off thinking he just didn’t exist.

Now that he knew that he was actually some kind of supernatural deity, he wasn’t sure how he felt about it.

He wasn’t sure what to do with that information.

“I’m Chanyeol, by the way.” Tall guy reached out and his grip around Kyungsoo’s hand was strong and rough and the way he shook his hand was way too enthusiastic, but Kyungsoo didn’t complain. “Head of the Hephaestus house.”

So he wasn’t a son of Apollo then. Kyungsoo sucked at this.

Instead, he tried to remember all those myths and legends and books he’d read and-

“Hephaestus. God of blacksmiths?”

“And fire.” Chanyeol grinned as he sprawled his fingers out and a little flame started dancing on his skin. Kyungsoo had to do a double-take to make sure he wasn’t imagining stuff, before Chanyeol curled his fingers in a fist and the flame disappeared. “Cool, isn’t it?”

“Show-off…” Sehun mumbled from the side, just in the same time Kyungsoo nodded in amazement.

“I guess you could say,” the loud obnoxious voice of Baekhyun made it to his ears before he even registered that the boy had joined them again. “It’s pretty _lit_.”

“Gods, that was bad,” Sehun groaned at the pun and earned himself a heartfelt nod from Lay who had also returned from the stables. “Even for you.”

Baekhyun, however, didn’t seem to be listening.

Instead, Kyungsoo watched as the redhead plopped himself down on the grass and next thing he knew his lips were latched onto Chanyeol’s.

He blinked a few times at the two boys making out. Apollo. Hephaestus. Gods.

He felt a rather unsettling feeling creeping in his chest, as he backed away.

“What are you doing?”

Both Baekhyun and Chanyeol pulled away from each other and looked at him in surprise. Both of them seemed genuinely confused.

“What?”

“Why are you kissing him?”

“Cause we’re dating?” Baekhyun said, but it sounded more like a question, as he looked at Chanyeol. He seemed just as confused.

“You’re…dating?” Kyungsoo felt his eyebrows flying up. “Aren’t you, like, cousins?”

“Oh… _oh!_ ”

Kyungsoo couldn’t understand why Baekhyun started laughing. He couldn’t understand why Chanyeol, too, looked down and covered his mouth with a hand as he started laughing too.

He threw a look towards Sehun to only find he was smirking. Lay was the only one who wasn’t laughing, but was instead just smiling at him kindly.

“Oh, my sweet summer child.” Baekhyun said after he finally calmed down a little. “You innocent, little thing.”

“Is incest a thing here? I’m leaving.”

“Gods don’t have DNA, Kyungsoo.” Lay was the first one to supply an actual answer. “We may share some abilities given to us by our godly parent, but none of us are related to one another in any way. At all.”

“Yeah, like…Lay here, I could totally date him if I wanted to.” Baekhyun stated. “It would be super weird though, cause we live together and all, but we’re not _really_ brothers.”

“That was possibly the worst example you could have given, but technically, it’s true.” Lay smiled again at Kyungsoo.

“Oh,” was all Kyungsoo had to say again. It felt like his entire vocabulary this day had reduced to only hums and quiet ‘oh’-s. “I see.”

It was weird. Kind of weird.

Kind of really weird, but he supposed he understood.

That would explain all the weird shit he remembered regarding Zeus.

Partially, anyways.

* * *

It was kind of ridiculous – only him and Sehun sitting at the large Hades table.

It was okay, though. There were some tables that were completely empty.

Hera’s and Artemis’ tables were empty, and so were Zeus’ and Poseidon’s.

All other tables were pretty packed with kids of all ages.

Kyungsoo threw a vague look towards Sehun and wondered how lonely it must have been for him until now to have sat here by himself, alone, for every meal.

He wasn’t quiet, per se, but his replies were curt and everything he said carried just the right amount of bitterness. Kyungsoo didn’t know him all that well yet, but he felt like they’d get along just fine.

People weren’t staring at him as much as they had stared the first day, so he could allow himself to dart his eyes up and take a closer look at the different tables.

Chanyeol was, surprisingly, not the largest boy on the Hephaestus table. They were all pretty large, muscular arms and all. He was, however, the loudest one. Kyungsoo could hear his booming laughter over the ruckus in the entire hall.

Suho was walking between the tables with another boy, a boy with round eyes and kittenish features. He was incredibly pretty, Kyungsoo could tell from even this far away.

Which was the reason he was surprised when Suho sat down at the Athena table and the boy continued down the aisle.

He almost expected him to sit down at the table with all those beautiful girls and boys – the Aphrodite table.

He could only blink in utter surprise when he watched him skip that table unceremoniously and sit down at the one next to it – with the buff, scary looking kids in leather jackets.

“That’s Xiumin. Head of the Ares house.”

Kyungsoo blinked towards Sehun who was following his glance, before humming.

“Doesn’t look like the rest of the Ares kids.”

“Say that to his face and he’ll beat you up.”

Kyungsoo supposed he understood where Sehun was coming from when he watched that Xiumin guy shooting his eyes up – there was a scary glint in them. Not just a pretty face. Good. Great.

His gaze travelled over the crowd again, and they stopped on those flaming locks of red hair and that smile that took most of Baekhyun’s face. He wondered if he was perpetually smiling because he knew he looked good when he smiled, or if it was just his personality.

Most of the Apollo kids were listening to whatever Baekhyun was saying, even Lay, and they were smiling fondly.

The table next to them – the Hermes table – was the messiest. There were kids pushing each other playfully (or not so playfully), and there were kids whispering to each other, then smiling guiltily whenever a satyr or a nymph passed by them.

He had met the head of their house earlier – a guy named Chen who had stolen about two buckets of pink paint from the Art class. When he’d sensed Kyungsoo’s curious glance on himself, he had only grinned a mischievous smile and motioned for him to stay quiet.

He hadn’t been interested enough at the time to wonder what a person could possibly need two buckets of pink paint for.

Now, however, as he kept staring at the Hermes table and the way Chen was side eye-ing the main table with that same mischievous glint in his eyes, he started wondering what he could be up to.

And then he saw _him_.

Him, with a capital H, because he’d never quite seen a human so breathtaking. A demigod. Whatever.

The boy’s hair was a soft shade of pink, as he moved through the tables, turning his head from side to side and greeting everyone with a smile.

Kyungsoo was in a daze, as he watched him walk forward – so smoothly and so elegantly, that it almost looked like he was floating.

He was wearing the same orange T-shirt everyone else was wearing, and it was supposed to look just as obnoxiously ugly on him as it did on everyone else, but no – he looked like he could make it work in a fashion magazine.

His skin looked perfectly smooth and it was a mellow shade of gold, kissed by the sun.

Kyungsoo didn’t even feel the way he leaned forward as he watched Him moving between the tables, until he finally stopped and sat down among the beautiful kids, who greeted him with wide smiles.

Kyungsoo let out a sigh.

Figures.

Of course a man as gorgeous as that would be Aphrodite’s son.

That was the only rational explanation.

As rational as anything in this camp could get.

Rational or not, Kyungsoo couldn’t help but stare at him throughout the entire dinner and wonder just how powerful the goddess of love actually was, because he was pretty sure he had just fallen in love. 

* * *

Sword fighting was fun, Kyungsoo supposed.

And so was the fact that he could apparently control ghosts. Sehun had filled him in on that some days after his arrival, and he had promised to help him work on it some time later.

Watching the Apollo kids riding pegasi was also fun – they were majestic creatures. But just as Sehun had said, when Kyungsoo tried approaching one of them, he’d almost gotten kicked in the face.

What was even more fun, though, was sitting at the Hades table at the dining pavilion, and waiting to see that one boy who had stolen his heart the first time he saw him.

OK, not really stolen his heart. He was hot, though. And Kyungsoo knew how to appreciate that.

He supposed it was alright to be dramatic, when the other was the son of the Goddess of love, though.

He would always stare around and try to see him, and he’d sometimes spot him among the masses of campers, before losing him in the crowd. Almost every time he looked, he wasn’t at the Aphrodite table. He wasn’t anywhere to be seen and Kyungsoo wondered where he was eating and what he was doing.

Today, however, he saw him.

He saw him, and he almost choked, because he had changed. His hair wasn’t pink anymore. It was a striking silverish white, flying in all directions, contrasting with his beautiful skin and making him look even more surreal.

No wonder he hadn’t been seeing him around. He had been looking for the soft pink hair, when he should have been looking for white.

He couldn’t help his excitement, when he saw him again. Walking between the tables just as aimlessly as the first time, greeting everyone.

When he reached the table of Aphrodite, he leaned over some kids and smiled at them. They were talking and Kyungsoo wished he knew what they were saying. He wondered what the boy’s voice sounded like. He would bet anything that it was just as soft and smooth as he imagined it to be.

Just when he was expecting the Aphrodite son to sit down, he turned around and did the one thing Kyungsoo hadn’t thought he’d do.

He sat down at the Athena table.

Right next to Suho, who gave him a warm smile and moved to make more space for him.

Kyungsoo just blinked at that. Had he seen wrong last time?

Was this another person? 

How come was an Aphrodite son sitting at the Athena table? Or was he a son of Athena?

Why had he been sitting down at the Aphrodite table, then?

He could feel the etch between his eyebrows deepening, as he turned towards Sehun.

“Can we sit at other tables?”

“Not unless we want to get smitten by a god or something.” Sehun said and Kyungsoo didn’t know what his expression looked like – possibly stupid – because Sehun smirk-smiled. “I’m messing with you. We don’t do that though. It’s forbidden.”

“…forbidden.“

“You can try. But if I were you, I’d keep my eyes open for those Furies.” 

Kyungsoo didn’t know if he was joking in that last bit or not, but he decided not to test his theories out.

Instead, he knitted his eyebrows again at the Aphrodite-now-Athena boy.

Maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him. Maybe he had seen something wrong last time.

In any case, the rest of the dinner, he spent mostly distractedly talking to Sehun and staring at the vision just across the pavilion.

* * *

By the end of the week Kyungsoo had started losing his mind.

Because on the next day during lunch his eyes found _him_ and his hair was back to pink and this time, he was sitting with a few girls on the Demeter table.

After the activities when he was on his way back with Sehun to the Hades cabin, he saw the boy again. He was returning from the fields with the children of Dionysus and just when Kyungsoo finally thought he’d figure out who he actually was when he’d see which cabin he’d enter, the boy laughed and entered the cabin with the rest of the kids.

Somehow, Kyungsoo couldn’t quite believe he was a son of the grumpy god at the main table he saw every day. He supposed he wouldn’t have been able to sit around all the other tables if his dad was actually watching. He didn’t look like he would be a son of Dionysus.

With the way he looked, Kyungsoo still strongly believed Aphrodite was involved, but maybe that was just him.

Kyungsoo could just blink blankly after him and wonder what was going on.

Sitting on different tables was forbidden. Entering other cabins was forbidden.

So why was this boy so freely walking all over the rules? No one seemed to mind either.

Every time he opened his mouth with the intention to ask Sehun about it, his half-brother would bring up something else – like their death summoning lessons and new swords and fun things like visiting the Underworld and Capture the Flag.

Instead, he’d go to bed every evening, completely exhausted from all the training during the day, vaguely wondering just who this pink-or-white haired demigod was.

* * *

Kyungsoo woke up to a complete havoc. He opened his eyes sleepily just when he heard another angry shout from outside of the cabin.

He looked over to Sehun’s bed, to see his half-brother shooting up in bed with surprisingly wide eyes for someone who just got woken up by the ruckus.

Kyungsoo scrambled out of his bed in distress when he saw Sehun grabbing the black sword he kept leaning against his nightstand.

“Grab your sword.” Sehun’s voice was still raspy from sleep and Kyungsoo blinked in surprise, as he shakily picked up the sword Chanyeol had forged for him the other day – a sharp and light thing, that had proven itself to be extremely useful in his sword fighting classes.

Sehun must have seen the way he was shaking as the shouts outside continued, because he looked at him and pursed his lips.

“Stay behind me.”

Kyungsoo gulped, as Sehun carefully pushed the door of their cabin open.

He didn’t know what he was expecting. Maybe an attack. Maybe that enhanced bat-lady again. A fury. A monster. Wasn’t that why they trained.

What he didn’t expect, though, was what he saw.

He watched Sehun lowering his sword and breathing out dramatically.

There were campers gathered everywhere – a sea of messy heads woken up from sleep, most of them standing in front of their cabins with drawn out weapons. Most of them, just like him and Sehun, must have thought someone was being attacked judging by the shouts they woke up to.

But no.

It wasn’t an attack.

It was something much worse.

The scruffily painted angry red color of the Ares cabin was now completely covered by pink paint, and there were bouquets of flowers carefully arranged between the barbed wires on the roof. It looked like a grunge Barbie dollhouse.

However, as Kyungsoo squinted his eyes, he could see the angry red peeking on a few spots under the hot pink, the head of a boar was still very dangerously staring at everyone around. The children of Ares screaming and fuming at the front definitely destroyed the image of a Barbie dollhouse.

Kyungsoo felt his jaw dropping a little, as he kept staring.

So that’s what Chen had needed the pink paint for.

“Oh shit,” Sehun mumbled quietly, a hand on his hip. “Xiumin’s going to beat someone’s ass.”

Kyungsoo let out an understanding hum, as he looked back towards the crowd of campers keeping their distance away from the now pink House of Ares.

Xiumin was there, among the rest of the Ares kids. His brothers and sisters were screaming threats at everyone around, and most of them were holding swords up high, ready to fight.

Not Xiumin, though. He was just standing there, looking up at the pink house with an unreadable expression.

Kyungsoo almost shivered when he saw the boy looking away and towards the crowd instead. There was a deadly glint in his eyes. He may not have been screaming like the rest of the Ares kids, but he sure looked the scariest right now.

“Let’s get out of here before things start exploding.”

Kyungsoo had to agree with that proposition.

Sehun started walking away, still in his checkered pajamas and the black sword in his hand, and Kyungsoo only followed after him.

They were just about to leave the circle of cabins, when his eyes caught a certain brunette peeking from behind a tree with a mischievous grin.

Sehun noticed him in the same time.

“I’d hide better if I were you, Chen.” The younger Hades kid warned. “He’s not happy.”

“It was not me!” Chen said, but there was something about his shit-eating grin that said otherwise.

“It _was_ you. _Everyone_ knows it was you.” Sehun rolled his eyes. “No one else would dare piss Xiumin off like this.”

“Good thing he’s got a soft spot for me then.”

Kyungsoo almost winced. He didn’t know much about those guys yet, but judging by Xiumin’s earlier glare he wouldn’t rely on compassion, no matter how big of a soft spot he had for the Hermes kid.

He would run. Fast.

“Whatever, man. I just really hope you still have your dad’s flying shoes.” Sehun shrugged. “You’re going to need them.”

Kyungsoo was pleased to find out that him and Sehun were on the same wavelength, but in that same moment something _actually_ exploded behind them and they took that as their cue to hurry the fuck up and get away from there, the booming laughter of Chen resounding cheerfully around them.

* * *

The dining pavilion was mostly empty this early in the morning. There were a few kids on the Hypnos table – Kyungsoo suspected they’d ran away from their own cabin the moment the screams started to look for a more peaceful place to sleep at. There were also a few other campers, who had probably decided to run away from the warzone.

There were several satyrs and nymphs walking around the tables.

A certain something caught his eye though.

The very first table, the one in front of the big table, the one that usually remained empty because there were no residents in that certain cabin, now had someone sitting there.

A boy with soft, brown hair, and the camp’s orange T-shirt and-

Oh Gods, it was Him.

Kyungsoo almost stumbled in the middle of his step, as he realized that that sharp jawline and those soft lips were the same ones he had been dreaming about for the past few days.

And oh Gods, why was he sitting at the Zeus table?

Rules or not, he supposed there was some explanation behind him sitting at different tables every day.

But the main god’s table? Kyungsoo curiously looked at him and the brown locks of hair falling in his eyes.

Sehun turned around to check why he’d stopped right by the entrance, and Kyungsoo finally breathed out in defeat and blurted out the question he had been holding in.

“Who _is_ he?”

Sehun raised his eyebrows and followed Kyungsoo’s gaze to the only person sitting at the very far corner of the pavilion.

“Oh, him?” Sehun shrugged, two perfect eyebrows still raised on his forehead. “That’s Kai.”

Kyungsoo felt like a choir of angels resounded in his mind, as he looked back to the boy sitting on Zeus’ table. At least he finally had a name to connect to the person.

“He’s a god.”

He almost jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his shoulder and when he heard the new voice.

Baekhyun’s fiery red hair and shining smile intruded his vision.

“Wha-“

“What are you doing here?” Sehun beat him, pushing Baekhyun’s hand off his own shoulder.

“When there angry Ares kids, I try not to be in their vicinity. Safety first.” Baekhyun hummed. “Chen’s in trouble this time. He really-“

“What do you mean he’s a god?” Kyungsoo interrupted the useless chatter, eyes finally tearing away from Kai and returning on Baekhyun instead. “God of _what_?”

“God of legs. God of booty. Isn’t he bootyful?” Baekhyun snickered at his own lame jokes, while Kyungsoo just gave him an unamused look.

He wasn’t sure if Baekhyun was messing around with him or not.

He was still new to this place, he didn’t know if there could actually be a god amongst them. Sure, there was Dionysus up on the big table, but he was here for punishment. What would another god be doing here, and most importantly – why would a god be wearing the ugly camp T-shirt?

And most importantly, how could he even be god of booty when he didn’t have much of a booty himself anyways? Kyungsoo almost scolded himself out loud for that thought.

“Godly powers? Control over your panties.” Baekhyun’s snickers only became louder and Kyungsoo saw Sehun breathing out tiredly and rolling his eyes.

Kyungsoo’s eyes turned back to the table at the front, where Kai was sitting, and he almost froze as he realized that the boy was looking at them.

When their eyes locked, Kyungsoo panicked. Why?

First, because he was afraid the boy might have actually overheard Baekhyun’s bullshit and that he might have seen the faint blush on his cheeks.

Second, because Kai was simply breathtaking, when his plush lips pulled back in the smallest of smiles.

“I gotta go.” Kyungsoo mumbled the most pathetic of all excuses and saw Sehun’s eyebrows raising up in question. Baekhyun only snickered again. 

Kai was still looking at him, he could feel his gaze, which proved to be the biggest motivation to _run_.

All of this wasn’t good for his racing heart.

* * *

It was a loud, cheerful evening around the campfire. Kyungsoo’s very first campfire in the camp ever since he arrived, in the large amphitheater with all the campers gathered there.

The children of Apollo were singing and dancing for them, and satyrs were telling stories.

They didn’t have assigned seats this time around.

Sehun and Kyungsoo sat down and later Chanyeol joined them, cooing over Baekhyun and his sweet voice carrying the softest of tunes around them.

“Sehun!” Kyungsoo blinked up when he saw Suho approaching them. “Sehun, you weren’t at the council meeting.”

“Oh-…” Sehun’s eyes were wavering and he didn’t have to say ‘shit’ out loud for Kyungsoo to know he was screaming it internally. Their eyes met for a brief moment. “Well, of course I wasn’t. I was with Kyungsoo.”

“Don’t you blame him for forgetting.” Suho sighed. “You find a new excuse every week.”

“Because the council meetings are useless anyways. Even Chanyeol thinks so.”

“useless or not, all heads of the houses are expected to be there.” Suho’s gaze was piercing. “You better be there next time.”

“Or I can let Kyungsoo be Head of the Hades house?” Sehun suggested and Kyungsoo’s eyebrows knitted together as he looked at his half-brother. Why did he sound hopeful?

“Kyungoo’s been here for a week. The moment he gets accustomed to everything in the camp, trust me, I’d recommend him myself.” Something grey was twinkling in Suho’s eyes. “But until then, Oh Sehun, you’re stuck with the job and if you don’t do it properly you’ll be assigned cleaning duty without the inspection.”

“What? That’s not fair!”

Kyungsoo ignored their bickering as he noticed what was happening down by the fire.

The Apollo kids were finally moving towards the bleachers, Baekhyun’s eyes searching the crowd before he spotted them and his face broke out in a grin. He grabbed Lay’s arm and started pulling him towards them.

The Apollo kids moved away, but in their place Kai walked to the campfire. He wasn’t wearing his orange T-shirt, no.

He was wearing a silky shirt, that was elegantly flowing behind him as he walked forward. His hair was black. Darker than the darkest hours of the night.

Suddenly, everything was silent.

Sehun and Suho stopped bickering too, and everyone directed their attention to the center. It got so quiet in the amphitheater, that Kyungsoo could even hear the wood crackling in the fire.

It was throwing flickering lights on Kai’s golden skin and Kyungsoo was in love. Positively.

The silence was somewhat suffocating, as everyone held their breath and looked at Kai.

And then, the sound of a flute broke the night.

The satyr started playing a song skillfully and Kai’s body started moving.

Kyungsoo understood now. Why everyone suddenly got silent as the boy took the stage.

It’s because it was a moment Kyungsoo wanted to engrave in his mind to keep forever. The way he was dancing, the way he was moving his body to the tune of the satyr’s song – it wasn’t just art. It was more than that.

It was powerful, yet mellow. Sharp, yet soft.

Incredibly dangerous with its utmost beauty.

Kyungsoo didn’t have the words to describe what he was witnessing. He had never seen anything more beautiful in his life. From the way Kai’s body was merging with the music – every twist and every turn, every single move executed with perfection and deep emotion – to the way his hair would fly around him and the satin of his shirt was flowing around his body, everything was perfect.

Better than perfect.

It was like a spell. Like he was watching something that wasn’t real.

But then the song ended, and Kai’s body finally stilled, the fire still throwing flickering lights on his skin. His plump lips were parted.

Kyungsoo couldn’t breathe, as he tried to register what he had just watched. True beauty.

The first claps sounded loud in the silent amphitheater, and they broke this spell Kai had every single camper under.

The first claps suddenly erupted into uncontrollable cheering from every single corner of the amphitheater.

There wasn’t one single demigod who wasn’t clapping in amazement.

Kyungsoo’s heart was doing some acrobatic moves in his chest, as he watched Kai smiling at the crowd – a bright, beautiful smile, as he wove his hands and then ran away to the side. He saw a few demigods dragging him into hugs and friendly pats on the shoulders, a few children Kyungsoo recognized as Aphrodite’s kids.

“Are you sure he isn’t Aphrodite’s son?” he leaned towards Sehun and asked quietly.

His brother looked down at him with a badly concealed smirk.

“Why don’t you go ask him yourself?”

_Because I feel incredibly intimidated by that perfection._

“Because it’s awkward. I don’t even know him.”

“It’s the perfect opportunity to introduce yourself, then.”

_I will make a fool out of myself._

“I don’t want to be annoying.”

“Trust me, Kyungsoo. He’s a really nice guy. He wouldn’t mind at all.”

Sehun’s black eyes were shining, and his look was somewhat encouraging and Kyungsoo was out of arguments anyways, so he threw another look to the dancing beauty, before he hesitantly stood up and nodded – more to himself than anything.

“Alright. I’ll-uh…I’ll be right back.”

He walked through the crowd, as the Apollo cabin took the stage again and music and laughter filled the amphitheater again.

He walked, and with every single step he took, his heartrate only increased.

He was pretty sure he had never been as nervous in his life as he was now.

The Aphrodite kids all around Kai somewhat scattered when they saw him approaching, throwing curious glances the closer he got.

Kai, too, turned around and looked at him when he was merely a meter away and Kyungsoo’s breath got caught in his chest.

He was so frustratingly beautiful. Even more gorgeous from this close.

His eyes were shining, and his lips looked soft and red.

The whole world around him collapsed when he smiled at him. It was the single most enchanting thing he’d ever witnessed.

“Hi.” The boy in front of him said first and Kyungsoo almost cursed out loud. He had fucking known it. His voice, just like everything else about him, was beautiful. Deep and soft, and filled with kindness. “You’re Kyungsoo, right?”

“Uh…” he found it hard to speak as he was staring at that stunning face. He knew his name. He knew his name, damn it. “Uh, yeah. Kyungsoo. You’re Kai, right?”

His chuckle was quiet and alluring, and Kyungsoo almost fainted.

“Officially. Most of the people here call me Jongin, though.”

“Oh. Jongin.” Kyungsoo tested out the name on his lips and it was a beautiful name for a beautiful man and-…okay, he probably had to stop. “I was-…I was watching your dance just now and I-…I just-….wow.”

Kyungsoo could feel his cheeks growing red at his inability to form a proper sentence. Jongin, however, seemed to find it endearing, because he chuckled again – a blessed sound, reminding him of bells ringing.

“Thank you, I suppose.” Jongin sunk down to sit on one of the bleachers, moving to the side to empty some space for Kyungsoo. “Sit with me?”

The son of Hades didn’t really know what he must have done in his previous lives, but he sure as hell thanked his past self for being good and giving him this chance.

He did sit down next to Jongin, and his eyes flashed towards him hesitantly. The boy was smiling and looking at the Apollo kids dancing and singing, having fun.

“I’ve been seeing you around the camp ever since I came here.” Kyungsoo said quietly, hoping he didn’t sound like a complete creep. “I was…a bit confused.”

“Confused? Why?”

“I’ve been seeing you sitting on different tables every day. My-…well, I was just wondering, because Sehun told me that’s forbidden-“

“Oh, it very much is.”

Kyungsoo knitted his eyebrows as he looked towards the glowing face of the boy next to him. Jongin was smiling and leaning back, eyes still trained on the campers.

“Then, how come-…”

“I thought Baekhyun told you already?”

_Shit._

Kyungsoo’s mind was suddenly filled with a string of curses at the realization that Jongin had actually heard their conversation in the pavilion. The red in his cheeks only intensified, as he pursed his lips, trying to recall exactly what Baekhyun had said.

A god.

“…you’re the God of Booty?”

 Sometimes, he really hated himself with the passion of a thousand suns. Now was such a moment.

He hated the fact that that connection between his brain and mouth didn’t quite exist. He hated himself for blurting that out. He wanted to drown in his embarrassment.

Jongin, however, laughed. A sound louder than his previous chuckles, and brighter. Kyungsoo felt like the night was suddenly lighter. Like the sun was peeking from somewhere in his soul. Something among those lines.

“He goes around spilling this nonsense all the time.” Jongin said between fits of giggles. “I told him to stop, but that only seems to fuel him on.”

“Oh…” Kyungsoo mumbled intelligently, and there was silence between them again. “So, I shouldn’t listen to Baekhyun, then?”

“Normally, that would be good advice.” Jongin said and his eyes looked right into his and Kyungsoo almost choked on air. “But he did get one thing right this time.”

“He did?”

“I am a god.” Jongin winced as soon as he uttered the words, while Kyungsoo froze in his place. “That sounds so pretentious, though, don’t you think?”

“A…a god?”

Kyungsoo was pretty sure all he could do was stupidly blink. It’s all he could really do, as he stared at Jongin and the way his skin was glowing in the fire’s warm and distant light.

“I prefer another term.”

The man thoughtfully leaned back and tilted his head to look at Kyungsoo from under the soft bangs of pitch black hair. He smiled and the world stopped spinning.

Kyungsoo too, stopped breathing, as he looked at a smile blooming on those beautiful, full lips again.

“I am a muse.”

* * *

“A muse.”

Sehun looked up from his bed when Kyungsoo emerged in the cabin. He didn’t mean to shut the door so loudly, but it made a deafening sound in the silence of the room and all Sehun did was smirk and look back down to his book.

“So you found out?”

“You should have warned me,” Kyungsoo winced. “I actually asked him if he was the god of booty….I can’t-…ugh.”

Sehun tried to mask his snort with an awkward cough, before he shrugged.

“At least you know now.”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo grumbled. “Some brother, you are.”

Sehun’s look was entertained, but there was also something affectionate in his smile and Kyungsoo breathed out in defeat.

He couldn’t be mad at him. Not really.

Instead, he reached out to grab that old book on Greek mythology that Suho had given to him on his first day with a compassionate look in his eyes.

Maybe now, it would prove to be actually useful.

* * *

“Mind if I join you?”

Kyungsoo choked on the drink in his goblet, when he looked up and saw a pink-haired-Jongin standing with a plate in his hands and a soft smile on his lips.

“Not worried that something might die?” Sehun prompted, but scooted over on the bench to empty space. “Or that we might try kidnapping you? Kyungsoo, where’s the pomegranate?”

“Excuse me?” Jongin said, sounding relatively put off by Sehun’s ironic questions.

“Nevermind.” The younger of the Hades demigods shook his head with a smirk. “Camp jokes.”

“The campers joke about this?” Jongin asked. There was a hint of offence in his voice, as he flashed a look over his shoulder towards the kids. “I’ll have you know, Hades is one of the most cultured gods up there.”

“Down there, you mean.”

“You’ve met Hades?” Kyungsoo asked, just to stop Sehun from saying anything dumber. Jongin turned his eyes towards him.

“Of course I have.” The boy- the god….the _muse_ said, the tone of a person who was answering something seemingly ridiculous. “Your dad has been more than welcome up in Olympus ever since the Great War.”

“What’s he like?” Kyungsoo asked, unable to stop himself, He’d never really admit it out loud, but he was curious. What his father was like.

“A bit of a downer, really,” Sehun said while chewing on something. “But I guess that’s to be expected when you’re surrounded by death like, 24/7.”

Kyungsoo threw him a look, before turning his gaze back to Jongin. Jongin, who just smiled at him softly.

“He’s majestic. Powerful. Like all the big gods.” Jongin shrugged. “I’ve only ever seen him when I’ve performed up in Olympus.”

“Alright,” Sehun groaned, as he stood up. “I’ve heard this before, so if you guys will excuse me-“

“Wait-“ Kyungsoo tried to stop Sehun from leaving.

 _Don’t you leave me alone with a god_ , his eyes screamed.

Sehun smirked.

“I’ll be at the Climbing Wall, alright?”

Kyungsoo’s breath left his lungs as Sehun actually turned around and walked away. Traitor.

“Must be fun living with him.” Jongin’s soft voice dragged him out of his thoughts and Kyungsoo could only nod.

“Yeah, well…he’s something else.”

“He sure is.”

Kyungsoo nodded, feeling his heartrate picking up again. Just like last night at the campfire, it was starting to act up at the realization that he was sitting on a table, alone with Jongin.

“So…uh…you perform on Olympus?”

“It’s my job,” Jongin smiled, leaning over the table and shrugging. “Was, anyways. The gods are too busy lately for entertainment. Decided I might as well come down here and have some fun while I’m on break.”

“So you’re here just for…a while?” Kyungsoo couldn’t really hide the disappointment in his voice.

“Depends what you mean when you say ‘a while’,” Jongin grinned and boy, if Baekhyun’s smile was bright, then Jongin’s was simply blazing, dazzling, beaming. “Gods are immortal. For a god, a while could mean a human lifetime.”

They were silent for a few moments, as Kyungsoo assimilated the information, before nodding.

“Why did you choose to spend a human lifetime in this camp, though?”

Jongin hummed thoughtfully, before smiling again.

“I’m not really only in the camp.” He shook his head, as if trying to find the proper words. “Even down here, even on Earth, I have my job. I’m in thousands of places, and I’m with thousands of people.”

 _Right_ , Kyungsoo gaped _. A muse_.

“You could say that the camp is my headquarters, though.” Jongin grinned. “Operations control center, if you will.”

Kyungsoo had absolutely no idea what Jongin was even saying, but he was just nodding along to everything. The sound of his voice alone was worth everything. The biggest distraction.

“What about you?”

“What about me?” Kyungsoo asked, startled. Jongin seemed genuinely interested, as he leaned even closer over the table.

“Yeah. What about you? Where are you from, where did you grow up? How did you end up here? How do you feel?”

“Okay…okay, um-…I’m from Seoul. I grew up there, with my mom. She is -…um, _was_ – a singer. Ever since she passed on I’ve been…pretty much taking care of myself. I was at my part time job when the saleswoman from the shop next door turned into an oversized ba-…a Fury, I mean, and started chasing me around the mall.” Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows. “I have no clue what the people in the mall were seeing, but no one seemed all too concerned by a mythological creature flying around them.”

Jongin’s chuckle was quiet.

“Mist. We call it mist.” He said softly. “Mortals don’t see things the way we do.”

“Yeah, Suho mentioned that. Him and one of the satyrs just showed up out of nowhere and fought her off. She turned into dust. I don’t know how they knew she’d be there, but I guess I just got lucky.”

“I doubt that,” Jongin smiled again. How could he look so soft and hot at the same time? “Monsters can sense demigods. The stronger the demigod, the stronger their smell. It’s even worse if you use electronic devices. And Chiron-…he has his ways of finding the demigods too. I doubt Suho and the satyr were just randomly chilling in a mall. I’m pretty sure they were looking after you.”

Kyungsoo pursed his lips, before suddenly shooting his eyes up.

“Wait, I smell?”

“Like death and lilacs.” Kyungsoo supposed his face looked just as scandalized as he felt on the inside, because Jongin doubled over and started laughing – that same bell-like laughter that made his insides tingle. “I’m joking. You don’t smell at all. To me, anyways. To monsters, though, you do. You most possibly reek.”

“Great. I need a deodorant.”

Jongin chuckled again, softly.

“As I said, the stronger the demigod, the stronger their smell. You’re a son of Hades. I’m surprised you made it out there by yourself until now.” Jongin’s smile became smaller, softer. He hesitated, but then he put his hand on top of Kyungsoo’s on the table and something in him screamed at the touch. Jongin’s hand was soft and warm against his. “I’m glad you arrived here safely.”

Kyungsoo didn’t quite know what to say, as he stared up and lost himself in the beautiful eyes of Jongin.

“Yeah. Me too.”

* * *

“So you’re practically god of dance?”

“I told you I prefer the term muse.” Jongin lowered his bow, before shrugging. “But yes.”

“And your hair? Does it, like, reflect the inspiration of artists in the world or something?”

Jongin’s eyes were shining, as he smiled curiously and shook his head cutely.

“No. I just like changing the color.”

Oh. Well _now_ he felt dumb for asking.

Kyungsoo aimed at the target, eyes squinting as he tried to follow every single instruction Lay had given him about archery.

Even so, when he let go and the arrow soared towards the target, it completely missed the middle of it. In fact, it barely hit it, almost at the corner.

An arrow flew past him, and he frowned when he saw it hitting bull’s eye. For the third time in a row.

Baekhyun gave him a cheeky smile, as he put another arrow in his bow and proceeded to aim again.

“I suck at this,” Kyungsoo ended up grumbling as he lowered the bow. “Sword fighting? I think I’m getting the hang of it. But archery…not for me.”

“I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it.” Jongin smiled, as he raised his own bow. He looked so handsome with the string touching his plush lips and with his eyes calculating and sharp.

He let go of the arrow and Kyungsoo followed it with his eyes, as it completely missed the target and almost hit the unsuspecting satyr in the distance.

“Sorry!” Jongin seemed startled as he shouted out apologetically, carefully putting the bow down and giving Kyungsoo a look. “I take that back. It’s been _centuries_ , and I still can’t do this.”

Kyungsoo couldn’t help the soft smile that pulled his lips back.

Jongin wasn’t only a handsome, talented god. He was also the single most adorable person – _being_ – Kyungsoo had ever met.

“My sister tried teaching me once a few decades ago.” He continued, wincing. “Didn’t really turn out all that well.”

“Your sister?”

“Artemis, of course,” Jongin said as if it was no big deal. “She forbid me to join her and her hunters ever again if I were carrying a bow. She said she’d turn me into a rubber toy if I did.”

Kyungsoo didn’t quite know how to react. Jongin was speaking about the gods as if it were something completely normal.

By now he should have gotten used to the idea – him being a demigod himself and whatnot, but it just sounded so weird.

The way Jongin talked about them made them sound like normal people. And maybe, to Jongin, they were.

“Right. I was reading the old myths the other day. They said the muses were mostly with Apollo.” Kyungsoo said, careful not to blurt out something stupid again. “Why didn’t he try teaching you? I mean…his kids are pretty good at it, so maybe-“

“Apollo,” Jongin scoffed, but in that affectionate way, that made his eyes twinkle as he smiled. “Every time I meet Apollo he tries teaching me how to play the ukulele. I’m the muse of music and dance, and he tries teaching _me_ how to play an instrument. And to be honest, this stays between us, he sucks at it.”

“Yeah, Baekhyun mentioned something about his poetry.”

“Gods, yes.” Jongin groaned. “Don’t even get me started on this.”

They left together, and Jongin was talking about the gods. Funny stories about their life. Kyungsoo could only listen in utter fascination and soak in every single word the muse uttered.

The way he talked about the gods made Kyungsoo even more curious. He made it sound like a bad episode of Big Brother. With superpowers.

He told him about Demeter, who always complained about the humans ruining the world and her constantly saying she was done with them, but then rushing to fix everything because she just couldn’t bear watching it all fall apart.

He told him about Dionysus, before he was exiled to Earth in the Camp – how he flirted with every nymph and how despite his grumpy personality, his wine was the sweetest thing anyone could ever taste – sweeter even than the nectar of the gods.

He told him about Athena and her cold, calculating gaze and inability to joke around freely. About Aphrodite and her breathtaking beauty, about Hera and her pride. Ares and his big motorcycle and Hephaestus with his always flying fingers, creating the most fascinating of all gadgets.

He told him about the Big Three too. Zeus and his constant brooding causing thunderstorms all over the world. ( _Dad’s always quite moody_ , Jongin had said in hushed whispers, _even us, the muses, have to do our best to earn ourselves a smile_.)

He told him about Poseidon, and him getting in trouble whenever he appeared in Olympus wearing flipflops and a Hawaiian T-shirt.

And he told him about his own dad too. About Hades. He told him the god was quiet. He told him he didn’t speak too much. He told him he didn’t know him all that well, what with Hades spending most of his time in his own kingdom – the Underworld, but he told him the few times they had interacted over the centuries, Hades had been nothing but kind to him and his brothers and sisters.

“You do remind me of him, actually.” Jongin said at the end, a little smile, contrasting with the frown that laces Kyungsoo’s face. “You’re quiet. You don’t say much. But your eyes speak for you.”

“They do?”

“They do.” Jongin nodded. “Like the night of the campfire, when you approached me. You didn’t really say much, but your eyes were doing the talking for you. You’re pretty much an open book, Kyungsoo.”

“I am?” he asked, trying to not sound nervous. “What did they say, then? My eyes?”

“That you were completely mesmerized by art.”

Kyungsoo shot Jongin a look.

The muse was smiling softly and confidently walking forward and Kyungsoo sighed out.

 _No_ , he wanted to correct him, _I wasn’t mesmerized by art. I was mesmerized by you._

Jongin, however, was walking forward, already changing the subject, and Kyungsoo had to pick up his pace to catch up to him and hope that his eyes would talk a little less from now on. His cheeks were burning.

* * *

“So, if you’re a god-“

“A muse.”

“-do you also have children? Demigods?”

Jongin laughed, his white hair falling in his eyes, and the world around Kyungsoo stopped again. All he could do for those moments was appreciate the beautiful sight of Jongin’s smiles.

“No. I’m too young to be a father, don’t you think?”

In Kyungsoo’s opinion, someone who was a few thousand years old wasn’t exactly to be considered young, but what did he know?

Jongin stopped by end of the dock, throwing the few pebbles he was holding in his hand into the water of the sea.

“I don’t have children.” He continued speaking after the little pause. “But then again, I consider every artist in this world to be related to me in a way. Every musician, every choreographer and dancer. They carry a part of me in themselves…” he dropped another pebble in the water. “Sometimes, anyways. I’m pretty busy these days.”

Kyungsoo thought about what Jongin said. He supposed, it was true in a way. He was the muse of dance and music, after all.

He was everywhere.

“Busy doing what?” he turned to the boy with the white hair. “Not improving your archery, I’m sure.”

“Baekhyun has changed you,” Jongin laughed, throwing one at the pebbles down at Kyungsoo’s legs. “I’m busy doing a lot of stuff. I help Chiron run the place while Mr. D complains, and I try my best to help as many campers as possible.”

Kyungsoo nodded, kicking the pebbles away from his shoes.

He knew that. Jongin was always around – spreading his love and smiles amongst all the campers. Helping them when they needed a hand, with their sword fighting classes, or with their Ancient Greek studies. He helped the Aphrodite daughters braid their hairs and the Demeter kids water their gardens.

“And apparently, crashing dates.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes shot up at that. Jongin wasn’t looking at him.  He was squinting, looking over his shoulder.

Kyungsoo turned around at the same time. There were two campers on the beach.

His eyes almost bulged out as he recognized them both – the mischievous head of Hermes house, Chen, leaning his head against the usually-scary-but-now-very-soft-looking Xiumin, head of the Ares house. Truthfully, Kyungsoo had thought Chen would have been dead by now, after the whole pink house fiasco.

What he hadn’t expected was to see those two seconds away from making out.

“Well, things escalate very differently in this camp.” Kyungsoo mused, looking back towards Jongin and the soft look in his eyes. “I was half-expecting Chen to be missing by now.”

“Nah,” Jongin smiled, turning around to throw the last of the pebbles he was holding. “Xiumin would never, ever hurt him. Everyone knows that. He’s quite obvious.”

“What are they doing making out in the middle of camp anyways?” Kyungsoo frowned. At least, unlike Chanyeol and Baekhyun, who thought it was appropriate to tackle each other with kisses at every corner of every common area in the camp, those two had the decency to be more private.

“Technically, this isn’t the middle of camp.” Jongin supplied carelessly with a shrug. “Besides, this is the Fireworks Beach. Everyone comes here for their dates.”

Kyungsoo took that in, as he threw one last look towards Chen and Xiumin, who were now completely lost in their own little world, before turning back to Jongin and losing himself in _his_ own little world.

Jongin, looking like a vision with the wide sea behind him, his hair blown by the gentle breeze and his smile deeply etched into Kyungsoo’s mind.

“Dates?” he echoed and could feel the heat rising in his cheeks, as he realized he was practically alone with Jongin again. At the sea. At the dating spot.

And maybe he was imagining, but something in Jongin’s eyes twinkles as he looked down at his shoes, and a tongue ran over those luscious lips and for all the world, he seemed nervous.

Before Kyungsoo could even realize what was happening, he was in the water.

Jongin had pushed him off the dock, his mind supplied helpfully, as his butt collided with the sandy bottom of the shallow waters Jongin had pushed him in.

“Hey!” he didn’t mean for his complaint to sound like a whine when the wave hit him in his legs, as he stood up, but it did. “What was that for?”

“For you to know the wonders of the beach.”

“Right,” Kyungsoo scoffed, trying to shake off the sand in his flipflops.

“It’s refreshing, isn’t it? Come on!”

He blinked up when he saw the hand invading his vision – Jongin was sprawling his hand out for him to hold, ready to pull him up on the dock again.

His skin was soft and warm against his wet hand and Kyungsoo wanted to appreciate the moment – holding Jongin’s hand and feeling all sorts of butterflies in his stomach.

And then there was a surprised yelp, a splash of water, and Kyungsoo proudly smirked as he watched Jongin emerging from the water with a gasp and with droplets of water flying around him as he shook his head.

“That was rude!”

“No,” Kyungsoo said. “It was refreshing. Wasn’t it?”

Jongin tried to keep a straight face, as he ran a hand through his wet hair and gave Kyungsoo a playful look.

“Be careful, Soo, you’re messing with a god.”

Kyungsoo’s heart did a flip at the little nickname. But watching Jongin’s face breaking out in a smile was worth it. He shrugged.

“You’re right. That _does_ sound a bit pretentious.”

The bell-like laughter was carried around him by the wind, in the same time Jongin leaned down and started splashing water in his direction. 

* * *

“I’m in love.”

“Good for you.”

“I mean it.” Kyungsoo turned his head towards the bed by the other wall.

Sehun was sharpening his sword, and he threw a very unamused glance in his direction, as he raised his eyebrows.

“Do I _look_ like an Aphrodite brat to you?” Kyungsoo opened his mouth to answer, to confirm that, indeed, from some angles Sehun was quite handsome. The younger one must have recognized the intent in his eyes, because he raised a hand. “No. Don’t. Get yourself together, Kyungsoo. We’ve got a reputation to uphold.”

“Right. Death. Cool stuff.”

Sehun’s sigh was dramatic, as he made a show out of leaving the sword on the bedside table, as if it were a diary or something.

“Listen, I’ve never had a brother, but even if I did, I wouldn’t know what to tell you. I am not all that good in the whole boyfriend-girlfriend-crush-love-talk.” The younger boy said, a little hesitant. “Besides, you and Jongin are already so close, I feel like you know him much better than I do. I can’t help you.”

“How’d you even know I was talking about Jongin?” Kyungsoo didn’t even try denying and Sehun’s snort was loud and cynical, as he picked up his black sword again.

“You’re not being subtle at all. Besides, Chen told me all about your little date.” Sehun hummed. “He told everyone, actually.”

“Wait, what?”

“Your date? With Jongin?”

“I wasn’t on a date with Jongin!”

“Down at the Fireworks Beach?” Sehun asked and Kyungsoo shot up from his bed, throwing him a look.

“That wasn’t a date. We were just walking around.”

“And you were playing in the water?” Sehun raised his eyebrows again at Kyungsoo opening his mouth and closing it again when no sound came out. “Yeah, thought so. Sounds like a date to me.” 

“That was not-…ugh.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but lighten up a bit, will you? You just scored with a god. Take some pride in that.”

“It was _not_ a date.”

That’s all Kyungsoo said, before he rolled over in his bed to hide his face - back facing Sehun, who not so subtly laughed behind him.

* * *

“Were you aware that people think we’re dating?”

Jongin looked up from the book he was reading and smiled softly when he saw Kyungsoo. He almost melted at the sight.

“Yeah, I heard something like that.”

“And?”

“And what?”

Kyungsoo was standing there, stunned, for a moment, as he threw a look over his shoulders and watched the campers who had stopped to stare suddenly scurry away.

“It doesn’t bother you?”

“I wouldn’t say it does. No.” Jongin closed his book and his eyes were shining. “Why? Does it bother _you_?”

“It doesn’t bother me.” Kyungsoo muttered, looking away and feeling the embarrassment creeping up his body again. “But, you know-…you’re a god and-“

“I’m a muse.” Jongin blinked. “And I’m amused.”

Kyungsoo winced at the pun. Jongin started laughing at it himself, too.

His laughter was contagious. Kyungsoo felt himself loosening up a little, as he listened to Jongin laugh and as he watched his entire face scrunch up.

“Come on,” Jongin urged him. “Stop thinking about what other people say and help me find Chen. The Hermes cabin has to re-paint Ares’ house.”

“You know what, yes. That’s a good idea. Let’s find Chen.” Kyungsoo stood up. “Maybe some blackmailing will do.”

“Kyungsoo, no.”

“A few skeletons then?”

“You Hades kids. Incorrigible.”  Jognin rolled his eyes. “Is it that horrible? Others thinking we’re dating?”

Kyungsoo stilled down in his place at the gentle tone of Jongin’s voice and his inquiring eyes.

All fighting spirit left his body, and his heart started performing The Cheesiest Love Songs, and all he could do was shake his head.

“No…”

 _Not at all_.

* * *

“You. Sing.”

“No.”

It was almost odd to see Baekhyun frowning at Sehun and not smiling, but Kyungsoo had greater worries – namely, Baekhyun turning his eyes towards him and poining a finger at him.

“You.” The redhead said. “Sing.”

“I can’t sing.” Kyungsoo turned away from him, instead focusing on trying to call out a soul from the Underworld. Last time he had only gotten as far as summoning some bones, but Sehun was persistent and no matter how creepy it was, Kyungsoo was kind of excited by the fact that he could actually do this.

“Listen, if I could sing a harmony all by myself, trust me, I would.” Baekhyun approached him and Kyungsoo’s concentration was broken by a sheet of paper being shoved in his face. “I just need some help finishing this. I won’t make fun of you. Much.”

Kyungsoo evaluated his options. He’d known Baekhyun now for what, three weeks and in those three weeks he had learned that Baekhyun could either be the sweetest boy in the world or the biggest pain in everybody’s ass.

He knew that if he refused now he would not be left to work on his ghost-summoning-skills in peace.

“ _Fine_.” He almost hissed, eyes going over the notes and detached words Baekhyun had scribbled on the paper.

Kyungsoo couldn’t say he was particularly good at anything in his life, or that he enjoyed something a lot. But his mother was a singer once. He remembered the joy he felt listening to her sing and the happiness flooding his tiny body as she would sit him down and show him the notes on the piano.

So Baekhyun’s scribbles weren’t all that foreign to him.

He sighed out and cursed, not missing a beat, before starting to sing the words Baekhyun had written on the paper.

He threw a glare at the Apollo kid, as he didn’t start his stupid harmonizing, and stopped singing immediately when he discovered Baekhyun staring at him.

“Liar.” Baekhyun accused loudly. “Liars go to Tartarus.”

“They don’t.” Sehun chided from the side, looking as bored as ever. “Not really.”

“Just get your work done and let me summon my ghosts in peace, will you?”

“Fine. But I’m not letting you hide that talent. We have to work on something for the next campfire!”

Kyungsoo could already feel the arguments in his mind, and he could practically hear Sehun laughing at him and telling him to think about his reputation as the death kid.

Singing with Baekhyun proved to be a task just as meticulous as cleaning the cabin ten minutes before the inspection.  

The redhead may have been lousy and loud usually, but when it came to his art he took things pretty seriously. He would stop Kyungsoo every few moments and scribble new things down on his paper, cross out entire rows and then add new ones.

But it was fun. Throwing in suggestions. Watching Baekhyun’s eyebrows come alive on his forehead was truly fascinating.

It was in the middle of yet another repeat of the same 4 lines for probably the twentieth time, when he felt someone’s eyes on himself.

He looked up from Baekhyun’s notes and froze, voice faltering.

Jongin was standing on top of the bleachers at the amphitheater and he was watching them with a blank face.

His eyes, however – they were not only shining, they were bursting with unspoken words.

Baekhyun was about to scold him, but then he followed his gaze and saw Jongin standing there. He wove his hair enthusiastically at the god, a reaction quite different from Kyungsoo’s burning cheeks.

“You sing.” Jongin said, as he started going down the stairs, moving closer and closer to them. “You never told me you sing.”

“I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.” Jongin said, finally standing next to them. Kyungsoo was trying to look everywhere, but at him. “You have a beautiful voice, Kyungsoo.”

“Right.”

“You don’t believe me?” Jongin said, leaning over closer and closer. Kyungsoo could feel how close he was. “You should. It’s kind of my job to know stuff like that.”

Kyungsoo looked up, finally, and his eyes met Jongin’s.

There was something unreadable in his expression, but the way his eyes were twinkling under the locks of pink hair was simply breathtaking.

He watched as Jongin lazily looked over to Baekhyun for a mere moment – enough for Baekhyun to gasp and grab his pencil tighter, starting to madly scribble on the paper.

And then he looked back at him, and Kyungsoo caught his breath, those twinkling eyes seeming brighter than the Sun, as they stared right into his soul.

He felt something in his chest crumbling, when Jongin smiled.

* * *

It was the middle of the night and Kyungsoo knew something was wrong, because he couldn’t even bat an eyelid.

No, all he could do was lie down in his bed with this irrational urge to be writing a so. To sing. To belt out the highest notes he could and just sing his entire heart out.

Sehun wouldn’t appreciate it, that was for sure, so he just kept rolling around in bed, trying to get that stupid, childish want away from himself.

But the more he turned, and the more he tossed, the more this need intensified. It was definitely weird.

Those waves of inspiration hitting him out of nowhere. With him just lying down in bed, wanting to write and sing, wanting to do something, but unable to think of anything.

There were no strings of words in his mind, and no melodies on his lips.

There were only images of Jongin’s smiling face flashing behind his closed eyelids.

Jongin and the urge to sing.

Sing for him. Sing _about_ him.

An urge stronger than anything else he had felt all day long.

And that’s when his eyes shot open in realization and he sat up abruptly in his bed.

All this unexplainable flair, all this overflowing need to create.

He was pushing out the blankets off himself and shoving his legs in sneakers before he had even completely thought about what he was doing.

Sehun stirred in his bed, and Kyungsoo tried his best to silently sneak out of the cabin, as quickly as possible.

The night air felt chilly on his skin and the only light was coming from the stars and the torches lighting up the way to the amphitheater.

His heart was already beating loudly against his ribcage. He wasn’t even sure why he was looking for him, or whether he’d even find him at this hour of the night.

He wasn’t even sure he’d make it before some satyr or nymph caught him and he got in trouble for sneaking out at night.

The fire of the torches was crackling quietly, and he could hear crickets chirping in the distance.

All he could see, however, was the one man sitting down in the empty amphitheater, leaning back on his elbows and staring up at the night’s sky.

His hair was pitch-black now, as dark as the night around them. His lips were slightly parted, and his eyes were taking in the sight of the moon and the stars.

Kyungsoo could stand there and watch Jongin for hours. He could stand there and admire him, and it would be enough for his aching heart. It would be enough to make the strings in his mind form into coherent words and the melodies on his lips to turn into the softest of sounds.

“It’s a beautiful night, isn’t it?” Jongin spoke quietly, yet his voice still sounded loud in the silence of the night and Kyungsoo almost flinched, when the god looked away from the sky and towards him. He didn’t seem surprised to see him. “Come join me. The stars are particularly bright tonight.”

Kyungsoo’s feet carried him forward. Step after step, until he reached Jongin, and gods – he looked so good. He looked so powerful, so majestic and so soft.

“Do you see that bright star over there?” Jongin raised his hand, reaching out towards the sky, as if trying to hold it in his hand. “That’s Alioth. It’s one of the most important navigational stars for ships. It’s also the brightest star of Ursa Major. The Big Bear.”

Kyungsoo looked away from the sky  and instead stared at Jongin. The way he was still drawing with his hands in the air, pointing at the stars.

“It’s one of the most ancient constellations on the sky. It’s been up there since before I was born.” Jongin smiled at the sky and there was something absolutely mesmerizing about that distant look in his eyes. “The Big Bear. That’s what people call the constellation. It represents Calisto, a nymph my dad fell in love with.”  

“In love?” Kyungsoo echoed quietly, eyes tracing the string of bright stars in the sky. “Your father turned her into a constellation?”

“No. Hera turned her into a bear.” Jongin said without missing a beat, a little smirk playing on his lips as he tore his gaze away from the stars and stared at Kyungsoo instead. “She was pissed off when she found out Zeus was cheating on her again.”

Way to ruin the mood, Kyungsoo thought to himself as he squinted ever so lightly at Jongin. The god’s smile only softened.

“What are you doing out here so late?”

His voice was soft, and he seemed intrigued when he asked it, even though he didn’t seem surprised at all that Kyungsoo was here. Not surprised, but curious.

And Kyungsoo felt the waves crashing within him again, as he stared at Jongin and all those constellations in his eyes – brighter than Alioth, brighter than any star up there. He felt the words bursting from within, the melodies ringing in his ears.

“I couldn’t seem to find my muse.” He said quietly, and Jongin’s smile was small and warm. “What about you?”

“Waiting for mine to come.”

He felt his breath hitching, when Jongin leaned closer. His smile disappearing, as his lips parted lightly, but his eyes shining even brighter.

He felt like his soul left his body when he felt those plush lips pressing against his briefly. When a hand grabbed his shoulder lightly to hold him in place, as Jongin kissed him.

He felt like every song that played in his mind at that moment was a masterpiece, something unrivaled by anything ever created before.

Unique and beautiful. That’s what everything felt like in this moment.

Mesmerizing and completely breathtaking, as he felt the taste of Jongin’s lips against his, the seconds feeling longer than centuries, the brief touches in the dark, cold night feeling like burning flames.

He felt all that, but most importantly – he felt his heart swelling inside his chest. Overwhelmed by the sudden emotion of feeling complete, by the sudden realization that Jongin made him feel whole.

They parted then, and Kyungsoo could only gasp for air as Jongin pressed his forehead against his. Their breaths sounded shallow and loud in the silence of the night.

“I’ve never kissed a demigod before,” Jongin said, voice sounding a little hoarse, a little rough, and Kyungsoo shivered at the sound. “How was it?”

“Let’s just put it this way,” Kyungsoo said, his fingers running through Jongin’s hair and holding him close. “You’re doing a god’s work.”

Jongin winced and Kyungsoo only laughed quietly.

“This entire camp needs pun lessons. I should discuss this with Chiron, it’s getting out of hand.”

“You should.”

“I should.” Jongin breathed out and it tickled Kyungsoo’s skin. “You know what else I should do?”

“What?”

“Kiss you again.”  

“I didn’t even brush my teeth,” Kyungsoo mumbled, but Jongin’s lips were already pressing against the corner of his mouth.

“It’s OK. I didn’t brush mine either.”

“Yeah, but you’re like, a god-”

“A muse.”

“And you smell like a god, and you taste like a god.”

“You taste like death and lilac.”

“I hate you.”

Jongin silenced him with a kiss, deeper than the first one.

His lips were soft against his, and just the right amount of perfect.

Kyungsoo softened in his arms, and all he could do was wrap his hands around his neck and pull him closer.

Enjoy this moment, under the sky’s brightest stars.

And he knew, in that moment, that he was lucky.

Because no matter how good a song was, no matter how beautiful a dance was, no matter how talented a singer was and no matter how artistically the tones flowed around him, nothing could compare to this.

Nothing could compare to this moment of utter and artful bliss.

Nothing was more perfect than his muse.

**Author's Note:**

> Taking 'Kai is God' to a whole new level, that's right.
> 
> Jongin was supposed to be Terpsichore, the muse of dance and music in this~
> 
> This was supposed to be only a drabble, help…
> 
> Please leave a comment and let me know what you thought, I’d appreciate that very much ^^
> 
>  
> 
> twitter: jongnugget


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